How to brief a logo designer

Most clients who end up unhappy with a logo design blame the designer. In most cases the real problem was the brief.

A vague brief produces vague work. A designer can only respond to what you give them. If you give them nothing specific to work with, they will make decisions based on their own taste and assumptions, which may have nothing to do with your business, your customers or your market.

Here is what a brief that actually works looks like.

Who you are and what you do, specifically

Not the formal company description. A plain-English explanation of what your business actually does, who your customers are and what makes you different from your competitors.

"A construction company" gives a designer almost nothing. "A family-run building company in Surrey specialising in rear extensions and loft conversions for homeowners spending between £40k and £150k" gives them a starting point, a market, a price point and a tone, before they have drawn a single line.

The more specific this section is, the better the work will be.

Who your customers are

Describe the person you most want to attract. Not everyone. The specific person. Their age, their profession, their priorities, the kind of business they would trust and the kind they would dismiss.

A designer who understands your customer makes decisions about visual language, colour and style that are informed by who needs to respond to the logo, not just by what the designer personally finds interesting. the difference between a logo and a brand identity

Five competitor logos with your honest reaction to each

Show the designer what the competitive landscape looks like. Note what each competitor does well visually and what feels generic, dated or wrong. This tells them what the category looks like and where there might be space to differentiate.

It also tells them what to avoid, which is often more useful than knowing what to aim for.

Logos you like from any industry

Find five to ten logos from any sector that you respond to positively. Explain briefly what you like about each one. The simplicity. The weight. The way it conveys authority, warmth, texture or precision.

These references are the most useful creative direction you can give. They reveal what you respond to aesthetically in a way that words rarely can. A designer looking at ten logos you love will understand your taste in ten seconds in a way that three paragraphs of description never quite manages.

Logos you do not like, and why

Equally valuable. If there are visual styles, colours or approaches that feel wrong for your business, say so upfront.

This is not about personal taste. It is about fit. A solicitor who says "nothing that looks playful or hand-drawn" is saving everyone significant time. A builder who says "no clip art, no house icons, nothing that looks like every other builder in the area" has just ruled out a large chunk of the wrong directions before the first sketch.

The values you want the logo to convey

Three to five words that describe how you want people to feel when they encounter your brand. Trustworthy. Premium. Approachable. Precise. Local. Established.

These guide decisions about colour, weight, complexity and style in ways that are difficult to explain without them.

Where the logo needs to work

A business card, a van, a website, a sign above a door, social media, embroidered on a uniform, printed on a paper bag. Different applications need different treatment.

A complex logo with fine detail works beautifully at A3. At 32 pixels on a mobile screen, or embroidered at 30mm, it becomes a blur. Tell the designer where the logo will live and they can design something that works at every size. when to rebrand and when to refresh

What you are not looking for

If there are directions you already know will not work, a particular colour, a style, a level of complexity, say so before the first round rather than after it.

One round of revision costs far less than three.

Makeproper handles branding from brief to final files. If you want help building a brief, or want us to take on the whole project, get in touch.